Pyongyang said yesterday a South Korean allegation that a North Korean patrol boat had intruded into its territorial waters was a "sheer lie" designed to provoke a military confrontation.
South Korea's defense ministry has said the North Korean vessel intruded into South Korean waters near Yeonpyeong Island at 07:40 GMT on Wednesday, ignoring warnings from a South Korean navy ship.
The vessel left shortly after a South Korean ship fired two rounds of cannon shots into the air, it said.
But North Korea's navy countered yesterday that the allegations were false, saying none of its vessels had crossed the disputed maritime boundary at the time mentioned by the South Korean military or even been in the area.
In a statement the Navy Command of the [North] Korean People's Army accused the South of spreading misinformation to mislead the pubic opinion.
"In a word, the South Korean army's much publicized `case of intrusion' by a patrol boat of the North side is nothing but a sheer lie and a deceptive farce," it said.
It said this "improper behavior" ran counter to a landmark accord reached between the Koreas last month to ease tension on the Cold War's last frontier.
Under the accord, South and North Korean navies are supposed to open radio contact along the disputed sea border in the Yellow Sea to prevent accidental clashes.
"This cannot but be construed otherwise than a sinister aim to persistently insist on the bogus `Northern Limit Line' drawn by foreign forces and incite the North-South confrontation," the North Korean navy said.
North Korea has never accepted the Northern Limit Line, unilaterally drawn by the US-led UN after the end of the Korean War in 1953, and calls for a new maritime border to be drawn up.
"If the South Korean army persists in its military provocations, misjudging the changed situation, it will entail irretrievable serious consequences," the North Korean navy said.
The South Korean defense ministry on Friday retracted an earlier report that said the North Korean navy failed to respond to multiple radio messages sent by South Korean ships before the warning shots were fired.
It said the North Korean side had in fact responded to the calls and sent three radio messages to the South Korean navy, including one saying: "The boat now sailing to the South is a Chinese fishing boat."
South Korean media quoted an unidentified military source as saying that the South Korean ships might have mistaken the Chinese fishing boat poaching there for a North Korean patrol boat.
President Roh Moo-Hyun called for a thorough investigation to determine if there was any attempt by the South Korean military to cover up the fact that the North had actually responded to the radio calls from the South.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS